Democrat takes lead in Wisconsin state Supreme Court race

From NBC's Domenico MontanaroIn a race that has become ground zero for liberal anger against Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Democrat JoAnne Kloppenburg has now taken an unlikely, and razor-thin, lead over Republican David Prosser in the battle for Wisconsin state Supreme Court justice.

Updated results from the Associated Press, as of 3:15 pm ET, show Kloppenburg leading by 204 votes, reversing the 585-vote lead Prosser held overnight.

Prosser, the incumbent in the race, was seen as the far-and-away favorite before the budget showdown in Madison unraveled. As NBC's John Yang reported earlier, in the four-candidate February primary, Prosser got 55% of the vote and Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general, just 25%.

A Kloppenburg win would flip control of the Wisconsin state Supreme Court to the liberals. Conservatives currently hold a 4-3 ideological majority on the court.

This race was one of two held yesterday that were seen as referenda on Walker. Democrats won a race for Walker's old job -- Milwaukee County executive -- in a landslide. Democrat Chris Abele, a political novice, defeated Jeff Stone, a veteran Republican state lawmaker, 61%-39%, in a special election to replace Walker.

Both races saw very high turnout for a non-November election, rivaling the 2008 presidential primaries.